Speaking, Training & Edutainment

Engaging Inspiration
Dec 5, 2025
10 min read

Whether I’m leading an intimate 14-person executive workshop or energizing an audience of 14,000 industry professionals, my work is designed to do more than inform. It is designed to move people.

My background brings together executive leadership in hospitality and events, live production, theatrical storytelling, guest experience strategy, and education design — a rare blend that allows me to create learning experiences that go far beyond “speaker at a podium.” My experience with Disney also shaped my instinct for infusing a little magic into every “show,” from the first impression to the final takeaway.

I’ve trained entire departments, shaken up executive retreats for global hotel brands, and partnered with powerhouse organizations including ILEA, NACE, MPI, HSMAI, SGMP, GBTA, and ACCP. My client experience spans Hyatt, Sheraton, Ritz-Carlton event teams, historic luxury resorts, private clubs, and hospitality teams responsible for creating high-touch, memorable guest experiences.

At the center of my work is edutainment: the art of blending timely business topics with immersive learning, story, play, audience participation, and intentional touchpoints that make the message unforgettable. I don’t simply cover industry trends. I build experiences around the conversations leaders and teams actually need to have — from hospitality leadership and internal culture to guest experience excellence, communication, innovation, burnout, service recovery, and the occasional elephant in the room.

Every presentation is grounded in custom research, relevant data, and practical application, then elevated through creative experience design. Sometimes that means a hands-on learning lab. Sometimes it means themed attendee touchpoints, surprise keepsakes, theatrical framing, or a fully immersive environment where the room, the message, and the audience journey all belong to the same idea.

Below, you’ll find highlights from a range of my speaking, training, and education engagements — from traditional keynotes and workshops to newer edutainment experiences that reflect where my work is increasingly headed: more immersive, more memorable, and more intentionally designed around the full attendee journey.

Highlights

Project/Event: Keynote Speaker at the 2026 Meeting Planners International (MPI)'s Oregon Networking Day in partnership with Society of Government Meeting Professionals and GBTA (Global Business Travel AssociationNational) | The Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR

Speaking Topic: "Mastering Pushback: A Curious Fall Into The Art of Resistance"

For MPI’s annual Networking Day at the Oregon Convention Center, I created and presented an immersive edutainment experience designed for hospitality, event, and travel professionals. The concept paired a timely leadership topic — mastering pushback — with a fully integrated Wonderland-inspired environment where the keynote, story, room design, attendee touchpoints, breakout language, scripting, and creative details all worked together from the start.

This record-breaking attended event moved beyond the traditional “speaker at a podium” format and became a designed learning experience: part strategy, part theatrical storytelling, part industry conversation, and part purposeful play. Through the lens of Wonderland, attendees explored resistance archetypes, communication patterns, the difference between reacting and responding, and how pushback can become a source of clarity, collaboration, and insight. From the giant keyhole entrance to the Queen’s garden-inspired staging, every detail was created to reinforce the learning — proving that when education becomes an experience, attendees do not simply hear the message; they enter it.

For a closer look at the full experience, including event details and photos, read the companion blog post.

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Project/Event: Featured Speaker at the 2024 National Conference for The Association of Club Catering & Event Professionals | Lake Tahoe, CA

Speaking Topic: "Unlocking Enchantment: Daily Disney Culture Insights & Practices for Transformational Moments of Wow" (photos and video coming soon)

Inspired by my coursework with The Disney Institute, my experience as a Disneyland Resort cast member, and years as a CEO/Principal Event Planner for a leading event business, I created a one-of-a-kind experience where attendees got to be honorary Disney "cast members" for a day. They immersed themselves in the magic, learning how Disney’s legendary practices could elevate their roles as private club event directors and leaders. The day was filled with joyful participation, and everyone left with a renewed sense of inspiration to bring a little Disney magic back to their own work.

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Disclaimer:

*the views expressed in this topic are strictly my own and do not necessarily represent those of The Walt Disney Company nor is this presentation endorsed by The Walt Disney Company or its affiliates.

Project/Event: Vice President of Education for The Academy of Special Event Professionals (ASEP) by Beverly Clark Enterprises, LLC, Santa Barbara, CA | Education & Certification Training Program serving hundreds of event & hospitality professionals world-wide

Description: As CEO of Santa Barbara Wine Country Events, I was honored to join The ASEP as Vice President of Education & Training, where I infused my passion for leadership and a culture of learning excellence. We elevated the skills of global event and hospitality professionals, including brands like Ritz Carlton, Hyatt, and Sheraton.

As co-author of the training program, I played a key role in developing content, designing quizzes, and guiding students toward certification. It was incredibly rewarding to see their growth and success.

Key Responsibilities:

Led the program's strategic vision, aligning with Beverly Clark Enterprises' goals.
Championed quality instruction and student success.
Collaborated with staff to maintain program standards and evaluate trainers.
Managed enrollment strategies and certification processes.
Built partnerships with industry organizations, boosting revenue and student experiences.
Provided academic leadership and worked closely with executive leadership on program planning.
Maintained tech proficiency for the program's online components and served as a trainer as needed.

Project/Event: Customer Service Training Project for Front Desk Team of Major Resort

Description: Developed a custom presentation and year-long training program to elevate the standards and presentation of the front desk team for major resort in the Santa Barbara area. From fresh approaches to old customer service challenges, better productivity and team work, stronger written & verbal communication skills, to raising the bar on service levels and expectations, I built in a follow-up program with check points to ensure the program stayed strong long after the training project was complete.

"Let me start off by saying Kerry Lee is an extremely gifted individual who epitomizes professionalism. Her talents lie in motivational and engaging training & exceptional people skills. She is a person of integrity and her enthusiasm for life is evident in all she does. The words that would best describe Kerry Lee include upbeat, polished, creative, a visionary, a problem solver, dependable, and finally, she possesses a wonderful sense of humor." -Dave Lautensack, General Manager 20 Years Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort

Project/Event: Featured Speaker for ILEA, Boston Chapter (International Live Events Association)

Speaking Topic: Think Different. Work Different. Evolve Different. A master leadership class designed to ignite an industry renaissance during and after a global pandemic.

"You are pure magic and brilliance, Kerry Lee. Simply amazing." - K.B.S. Boston ILEA Member

"Boom! This was money!" -J.M. Boston ILEA Member

Project/Event: Featured Guest Speaker for master leadership and customer experience class on "Think Different. Work Different. Evolve Different. a mini master class designed for an industry renaissance... or possibly a revolution" for NACE (National Association for Catering & Events) Lake Tahoe/Reno Chapter

Description: Provided relevant and fresh leadership inspiration to special events and hospitality professionals who are members of NACE Reno/Tahoe chapter and facilitated a conversation and collaboration as part of the course. Worked with the NACE Board with their timeline to fit the class as well as conversation into one powerhouse of quality learning and community-building. This engagement was part of my mini master class speaking engagement collection series.

Project/Event: Featured Speaker for 10th Anniversary of National Conference of The Association of Club Catering & Event Professionals.

Description: Joined a list of world-class featured speakers including celebrity wedding & event planner Mindy Weiss, customer service expert Jeff Tobe, internationally-acclaimed special events Hall-of-Famer Michael Cerbelli, Medinah Country Club GM/COO Robert Cereci, hospitality consultant Cindy Novotny and more to inspire and ignite club catering and event professionals from all over the world. My talk was based on my Think Different. Work Different. Evolve Different. master class, but with a particular focus on the element of uncertainty, embracing it and making it part of the plan.

View a sample highlight of my contribution here (7:24-8:46)

Project/Event: Producer & Featured Presenter "Cocktails with Coordinators: The Radical Event Producer" , Santa Barbara, CA | Part of the Fireside Series of event business education & entertainment

Speaking Topic: 1) The Upcoming Expected event Downspend in 2019 : 8 Steps You Can Take 2) Top Reasons You Hear Crickets When Responding to Inquiries based on current research 3) The Essential Elements of Badassery & Grace in Leadership

Description: For three hours, I invited guests fireside to enjoy event business education "fireside" and mixed it up with having a professional Mixologist coach participants with making their own custom-crafted artisinal cocktail, including custom non-alcoholic options for our non-drinking participants. See BLOG and photos here.

"Thank you for creating settings for the wedding & event industry to not just network and learn but to foster relationships through these social opportunities. It’s through events such as Cocktails with Coordinators, that I have been able to genuinely talk to others because we are not in work mode!!! Letting down our guard, laughing, talking sharing in a community environment has really help me branch out to those I may have not had the opportunity to meet otherwise. Again, thank you and I sincerely had a fun evening.” - Suzie Schneider | PacWest Blooms

Project/Event: Producer & Key Speaker for The State of the Santa Barbara Event Industry Fireside Summit: Define. Design. Evolve.

Description: After observing 20 years in the wedding & event industry, and in particular the incredibly enormous industry changes taking place nationally in the last 5-8 years, coupled with the highly unique niche of Santa Barbara and the issues it has been facing with the Thomas Flood/Fire and private estate /private event battles with the County of Santa Barbara, it was time to bring together the community. After four months of custom research on the events industry nationally and locally, I put together a Summit that provided content, a featured presentation and then a Think Tank Panel of local event business experts who helped anchor and facilitate an audience collaboration portion. The Summit sold out 3 months in advance. You can visit the entire 2018 program here. | Featured BLOG here | Video Clip here

"Everything from the location to the food and decor was really lovely and the educational component was top-notch." -Isabel Gomes | Isabel Lawrence Photographers

Project/Event: Featured Speaker: ARA International Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada | Approximately 14,000 in conference attendance

Speaking Topic: For Better or For Worse: Customer Service Standards in the Special Event Industry

Description: This one hour presentation was customized just for the American Rental Association, with some custom research I had done exclusively for rental companies nationwide attending the conference. Based on my years of training, PR, and special events with customer-service leader Nordstrom, we took a hard look at the evolution of customer service as it pertained to the event and rental industry, including some secret shopper work I did on a variety of rental companies in advance who were willing to participate in the study.

"Kerry Lee is thorough, responsive and proactive. Truly a professional, presenting a professional image. A rarity among professional speakers, she took the time to know and understand our membership and make her presentation come alive for them. A delight to work with!" - Susan Gassen | ARA Conference Manager

Project/Event: Featured Keynote Speaker for ILEA (International Live Events Association) Educational Symposium at The London West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA | Approximately 250+ in attendance

Speaking Topic: How to Generate Immediate Revenue in the Next 30 Days

Description: Held at the London Hotel in Hollywood, this educational symposium brought together many top talents in Southern California for a full day packed with content and a roof-top party following.

"We want to tell you how much we enjoyed your presentation at the ILEA Educational Symposium in Los Angeles. The topic was interesting and you presented it in a way everyone could understand. We have been getting great feedback on how informative your presentation was." -ILEA Los Angeles Programs Committee

Project/Event: Featured Speaker for NACE (National Association for Catering & Events) .

Speaking Topic: How To Generate Immediate Revenue in 30 Days + The Only 3 Ways to Generate Revenue | NACE Ventura County: The El Nino Protection Plan Every Event Professional Should Know | NACE Ventura County: For Better or For Worse: Customer Service Standards in the Hospitality Industry | Featured BLOG here

Description: Spoke at various NACE chapters as the Featured Speaker on the above topics.

"Thank you for speaking last night! Your presentation was eye-opening and gave us all new ideas to run with. We are truly grateful to have such a wonderfully informative speaker at our meeting." -NACE Reno/Tahoe Chapter

Project/Event: Featured Speaker /Founder/Producer for The Fireside Series- a group of experiential workshops for Santa Barbara event professionals providing an unconventionally relaxing way to learn, get inspired, network & collaborate.

Series 1 Description: The Event Planner Newcomer PowerLunch Workshop: a custom "powerlunch" experience whereby event planners enjoyed lunch and reviewed a presentation on key tips on starting their wedding planning business: from current stats on our unique area, to the changes that have taken place, not-to-be missed items in contracts, legal items of which to be aware- and savvy marketing and networking techniques. This event was sold out. An Encore Presentation/Event was held a month later to accommodate the demand.

Series 2 Description: Fireside Wine with a Wedding Planner offered a "power happy hour", which like the powerlunch workshop, allowed attendees to get in, get inspired, and get back to their busy lives. Topics included: 1) Deciding What You Will Offer (packages, hourly rates, the extent of types of coordination/planning/design) and 2) Marketing & PR for the Independent Contractor & Small Business: Cost-Effective, Powerful Methods (including tune-up tips for current endeavors to capture revenue during this prime booking season of now through February, plus, the most damaging phrases/words in marketing and the reason many brands derail. +PLUS+ Bonus Content: Delving into the one factor no form, market research, budget projection or potential client filter questionnaire can do for you with regard to sales & booking new business.

Project/Event: Trainer/Consultant to Catering/Wedding Sales Manager for Santa Barbara Wine Country's only 4 Diamond Inn

Description: Developed a custom training program to train the new Catering/Event Sales Manager. Planned a venue showcase/open house for potential clients. Developed a public relations, marketing and sales plan (including social media strategy) which resulted in an increase of 400% in revenue.

Project/Event: Featured Guest Speaker on the national live webinar broadcast for The Association of Club Catering Professionals (The ACCP) on their "Recharging the Rebound: Let's Talk Weddings"

Description: Worked with host and producer to develop content for their national private club membership that would inspire and provide tools to help them through the global pandemic. Topics included: Micro Weddings; New contractual terms and conditions to be considered; food & beverage service standards; layout considerations; new event partner relationships; refunds and payment schedules; new concerns with postponements, and more. The webinar was one of the most highly-attended virtual broadcasts in the history of the ACCP.

Link to recorded broadcast here.

We are in the process of updating more for this Portfolio- please check back again soon!

Highlights

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